A's plans for a new downtown ballpark dealt a crushing blow

The Peralta Community College District’s Board of Trustees decided in a closed-door session Tuesday night to break off discussions between Chancellor Jowel Laguerre and the A’s, who were hoping to build a privately financed stadium on land owned by the district.

“I think what the board decided to do is take seriously the potential of developing the land that Peralta owns,” Laguerre said in an interview with this news organization on Wednesday. “We look at what our needs are and what our assets are and what are the best partnerships.”

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While the board is not ruling out the idea of a ballpark altogether, Laguerre said, evaluating the best uses for the site could take a long time — longer than the deadline the A’s would need if the team wants its new stadium ready by 2023, as it has indicated in the past.

“It would have taken us a long time to give (the A’s) an answer,” Laguerre said. “This frees them to make other plans.”

The A’s issued a statement Wednesday morning expressing their surprise but did not address immediately what it means to their future plans to build a park.

“We are shocked by Peralta’s decision to not move forward,” the team said. “All we wanted to do was enter into a conversation about how to make this work for all of Oakland, Laney and the Peralta Community College District. We are disappointed that we will not have that opportunity.”

The news marks the latest in a string of setbacks over the years for the A’s in their quest to find a new home, following unsuccessful efforts to move to Fremont and San Jose. The aging Coliseum, where they’ve played since 1968, is considered among the worst venues for baseball in the major leagues, and is the only stadium shared by NFL and major league baseball teams.

So where does this leave the A’s? Team President David Kaval, who did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment, has said previously that the club had no alternative plan if the Peralta one failed.

“I’ve read and heard where the team has said there’s no Plan B,” said former team executive Andy Dolich, now the owner and operator of a sports consulting firm. “That just doesn’t ring true to me in any kind of project this large. Generally, you have plans A, B, C, D all the way to Z in projects like this, because there are so many aspects to them. Not having any other plan would not be logical.”

The A’s also have indicated they are not interested in building on the current Coliseum site, or renovating their current home. Much of the infrastructure already would be in place, and the A’s would be lone tenant after the pending departures of the Raiders to Las Vegas and the Warriors to San Francisco.

“If there really is no B, maybe that could lead to Plan C, which is the Coliseum,” Dolich said.

Students and faculty at Laney College overwhelmingly disapproved nearly three months ago of the A’s plan to acquire a 15-acre parcel and transform it into a ballpark village, complete with housing, retail and entertainment venues. Local businesses were also opposed to being potentially replaced by the A’s ballpark.

A poll released in November by Oakland Rising, group opposing the ballpark’s potential home near Laney College, found that four in five voters want the A’s to stay at the Coliseum.

"This poll is a true reflection of what Oakland communities want," Oakland Rising Executive Director Jessamyn Sabbag said in a statement in November about the survey. "The people we spoke with oppose constructing a stadium at the Laney site which would inevitably push out and could destroy historic cultural neighborhoods."

The Asian Pacific Environmental Network expressed concern in a November statement that renters in the Chinatown and Eastlake neighborhoods would be displaced.

Environmental advocates, including conservation group Golden Gate Audubon Society, have decried the potential plans for the Peralta site as harmful to Lake Merritt and animals who use the lake and estuary as food sources.

In rejecting the A’s bid, the Board of Trustees instructed the chancellor to focus on the needs of the college’s students and teachers. Laguerre did not give any ideas as to what uses the site could have, saying only that the district wants to determine — through discussion with the campus and neighborhood communities — the “best use” for the site.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said the city “remains fiercely determined to keep” the club in Oakland.

“It is unfortunate the discussion with Peralta ended so abrubtly,” she wrote. “Yet, we’re committed, more than ever, to working with the A’s and our community to find the right spot in Oakland for a privately-financed ballpark.”

Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan believes the Coliseum site can keep the A’s happily rooted in Oakland.

“I believe we should work together on options for the A’s at the Coliseum site,” Kaplan said. “Since the Peralta site would have required Lake Merritt BART station expansion and roadway and freeway changes, it seems we could have an affordable and financially viable option at Coliseum, which won’t have those extra costs.

“The fact that environmental clearance is already completed for the Coliseum site would also provide cost savings and time savings for development at that site.”

Kaplan also touted the Coliseum’s existing infrastructure that can easily be upgraded to fit the A’s needs.

“That site could house a new A’s ballpark, along with shops, bars, restaurants and hotels to create a vibrant and successful environment,” she said.

The A’s have indicated building a new stadium on the Coliseum grounds wouldn’t be as economically feasible as a privately funded project. Plus, most agree the Howard Terminal site near Jack London Square had the most obstacles of the team’s three stadium options.

But Dolich said that just because the Peralta board broke off talks with the A’s, it does not mean they might not start up again at a later date.

“People do this everyday in business. Two sides say they won’t talk anymore, and then they talk the next day,” Dolich said. “Peralta has done exactly what they should be doing. If I have land that you’ve already publicly said you want and plan to use but that you have yet to purchase, what do I do by saying it’s no longer available. The value goes up. So what Peralta has done is that the money in their cash register — do they even have those anymore? — just went up several zeroes.”